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Will Sands, a bartender at The Roadhouse, has helped the detectives with investigations in the past, and they wanted to find out what he knew about Annette Wyatt since she went to The Roadhouse regularly. Detectives Murphy and Parker interviewed him at the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department. The interview was recorded with the witness's knowledge and consent.

Participants:

Detective S. Murphy

Detective E. Parker

Will Sands

Detective Murphy: Nice to see you again, Will. Have you met Detective Parker?

Will Sands: I heard you had some new talent. It’s nice to meet you. The department didn’t put Detective Armstrong out to pasture, did they?

Detective Murphy: No, he’s around here somewhere.

Will Sands: Glad to hear it. So name and address?

Detective Murphy: You’re getting to be a pro at this.

Will Sands: That’s Will Sands, good citizen. 1002 College Hill Road.

Detective Murphy: So let’s talk about Annette Wyatt.

Will Sands: Great lady. I sure hate to think someone might get away with killing her.

Detective Murphy: You know something that could help us?

Will Sands: You know she was spending time with Kyle Parker?

Detective Murphy: You think he had something to do with her murder?

Will Sands: Well, you know old Kyle is popular with the ladies, especially the ladies with money. The two of them came in together a good bit.

Detective Parker: What kind of relationship did they have?

Will Sands: You know Kyle. He only has one kind of relationship with women.

Detective Parker: How could you tell about him and Annette?

Will Sands: You have a job like mine, you get a sense of these thing. My sense of them was that they were intimately familiar with each other.

Detective Parker: In love?

Will Sands: No. A lot of the ladies he comes in with are … I don’t think “love” is the right word … infatuated with him. Annette wasn’t like that. And he wasn’t infatuated with her either, not that he is with any of the others. But they seemed like good friends … who also knew each other in the Biblical sense.

Detective Murphy: Have you heard anything that makes you think he might’ve killed her?

Will Sands: No. Old Kyle talks big, but when it comes down to it, he’s a lover, not a fighter, as the man said.But he’s not what you’d call a straight arrow either.

Detective Murphy: Did Annette ever come in with anyone else?

Will Sands: She came in with her friend sometimes. White zinfandel.

Detective Parker: Do you know her friend’s name?

Will Sands: Naomi something. I never saw her except when she came in with Annette, so I don’t know much about her.

Detective Murphy: Did Annette come in with anyone else?

Will Sands: Oh, sure. She brought clients in sometimes, especially ones from out of town. She wanted to give them a taste of the local scene.

Detective Murphy: I bet you were good at helping her out with that.

Will Sands: I aim to please.

Detective Parker: Did she ever come in alone?

Will Sands: Yeah, she came in by herself sometimes. Sat at the bar, just for quick meal or maybe a drink and a little conversation, usually when she was killing time between appointments. She’d been doing that a little more lately. Used to be she was always Cabernet, but the last couple of months, it’s been dirty vodka martini with two olives.

Detective Parker: Is that bartender code for something?

Will Sands: In my experience, a change like that usually means a person has more worries than usual.

Detective Parker: Did Annette say anything that made you think that was true for her?

Will Sands: I’d say she was struggling with something, but she was never one to talk specifics about what was bothering her. She kept her own counsel.

Detective Murphy: Do you know any of the people Annette worked with?

Will Sands: Oh, sure. They’ve all come into The Roadhouse at one time or another. All the best people do.

Detective Murphy: Did any of them come in with Annette?

Will Sands: You know, the whole group of them came in for lunch … oh, it’s been maybe a year ago or so.

Detective Parker: That’s a long time ago. What makes you remember it?

Will Sands: Remembering the customers is what we do. Some groups come in, and there’s a … camaraderie, I guess you’d call it. But that Harte group, there was a strange dynamic, you might say.

Detective Parker: In what way?

Will Sands: Some of them seemed like they didn’t really want to be there. Annette was almost always comfortable with whoever she was with, and she and the boss man were having a fine time.

Detective Parker: You think there was something between them?

Will Sands: No, I mean they either didn’t notice or didn’t care that some of the other folks weren’t as comfortable.

Detective Parker: Like who?

Will Sands: One of the ladies, she was kind of the granola type, if you know what I mean. She didn’t say much. And there was a guy with them – I don’t think he’s come in except for that time – and he kept looking at the door like he was worried. After a while, I found out why.

Detective Parker: Did something happen?

Will Sands: Two other ladies came in after they’d been there a while. One of them was made up to the hilt, and if you ask me, she was the ringleader. The other lady, she seemed like she didn’t really want to be there.

Detective Murphy: Did they have something to do with the Harte group?

Will Sands: The ringleader marched right over to their table, dragging the other lady with her. The boss man invited the ladies to join them, but the rest of the group didn’t look that happy to see them. I was behind the bar, so I don’t know what was said, but everyone left pretty soon after that.

Detective Murphy: Do you know who those ladies were?

Will Sands: I haven’t seen either of them before or since, but if I had to guess, I’d say they were married to the two guys in the group.

Detective Parker: Did Annette ever talk to you about them?

Will Sands: Now, I don’t know. She wasn’t one to name names when she talked. She just wanted a friendly ear.

Detective Parker: Did she need a friendly ear the week before she was killed? She was in three times that week, including on the day she died.

Will Sands: She came in for a bite to eat that Saturday before she died. Was that the day she was killed?

Detective Parker: You don’t know?

Will Sands: The news just said she was dead, not when she was killed.

Detective Murphy: Who did she come in with that day?

Will Sands: No one. She just came in to get something to eat before she went to the office. She did that a lot.

Detective Murphy: What did the two of you talk about?

Will Sands: Nothing special. We were real busy that day. Longhorns everywhere. I didn’t have much time to talk to Annette or anyone else, except to take orders and pour drinks.

Detective Murphy: And earlier in the week? Who did she come in with? Do you remember?

Will Sands: I think she was with Kyle one time, and she might’ve been alone the other time, but don’t hold me to that.

Detective Parker: Anything unusual any of the times you saw her that week?

Will Sands: Not that I remember. I sure didn’t see anything that told me someone was going to kill her, not even looking back on it.

Detective Parker: Have you heard anyone talking about who might’ve killed her?

Will Sands: Plenty of people talk about it, but nobody says anything, if you know what I mean. Some of the ladies are worried about going places alone, in case there’s some maniac out there killing women.

Detective Murphy: Women should always take precautions for their own safety, but I don’t think we’re dealing with a crazed maniac running around killing people.

Will Sands: That’s what I told them.

Detective Parker: So nobody is talking about who killed her, except that it might’ve been a maniac?

Will Sands: People don’t know what to think. That’s why they’re worried. But you didn’t come to old Will to solve your case for you with bar gossip.

Detective Murphy: No, Will. We wouldn’t do that to you. But sometimes bar gossip has a bit of truth to it.

Will Sands: True enough. Anything else I can do you for you ladies today?

Detective Murphy: Anything you haven’t told us yet?

Will Sands: Not that I can think of.

Detective Murphy: OK. Well, we always appreciate your help. Let us know if you hear anything we ought to know.

Will Sands: Will do. You ladies should come in for lunch sometime. It’s been a while, and we’ve got some real good specials. You can even bring old Armstrong with you, even though he’s not near as charming as you two.